Fraudster Letting Agent Jailed For £200,000 Scam
Letting agent Martin Marcus was jailed for four and half years for scamming landlords and tenants out of £200,000 for a ‘crude fraud’. Marcus admitted five fraud charges at Harrow Crown Court. He conned customers across North London out of deposits and rents to pay...
New ‘Short’ Right To Rent Guidance
The Home Office has published a new version of the short guide to right to rent obligations for landlords and letting agents. At 14 pages it's perhaps not a correct definition of being 'short'! The guidance is not the 'statutory code of practice' which must be...
Builder Wins HMRC In Business Car Vat Appeal
Builder Jane Borton has won an appeal against the tax man for failing to allow her to claim back VAT on a car she bought for business. She reclaimed £4,913 VAT she paid to buy a Land Rover Freelander exclusively for business use. But HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)...
Deposit Protection Fine For Letting Agent In Landmark Case
Letting agents who fail to protect tenant deposits for consumer landlords could face fines and a criminal prosecution following a landmark court case. Colvin Houston, a letting agent in Largs, Ayrshire, was fined £500 after pleading guilty to unfair trading by failing...
Tax Changes And Brexit Stutter Rent Rises
Buy to let rents are close to hitting a glass ceiling that makes them unaffordable for many tenants, according to the latest reports. Landlord insurer Homelet and leading estate agent Countrywide both claim the rate of rent increases is slowing. Homelet says 'early...
Landlord Was Not Liable For A Slip On A Shared Path
Background to the case We previously reported the significant Court of Appeal ruling Edwards v Kumarasamy [2015] EWCA Civ 20. The appellant landlord (Mr Kumarasamy) held a long lease in a larger block of several flats. The lease gave the landlord the right to use the...
Landlords are reminded of the need to register with Rent Smart Wales
The law in Wales now requires private landlords to register themselves and their properties with Rent Smart Wales. The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 requires landlords to register and self-managing landlords who let and manage properties and agents to also undertake...
Time To Update Those Dubious Tenancy Agreements
If you have nicked a free tenancy agreement off the internet or repurposed one provided by a letting agent, then now’s the time to throw it in the bin. Many landlords believe they can rewrite someone else’s assured shorthold tenancy agreement (AST) by adding and...
Evictions Up And High Court Enforcement Guidance Issued
The number of tenants evicted from their homes was up 5% in the first quarter of the year compared to the year before, according to the latest official figures. The Ministry of Justice said courts handled 10,732 claims to possess a property in the first three months...
Illegal Eviction Costs Landlord £7,000
A rogue landlord who illegally evicted a tenant had to pay more than £7,000 in compensation after facing a catalogue of claims in court. Landlord Mr Pigeon was lambasted by a judge at Chippenham and Trowbridge County Court, Wiltshire. The court heard that Pigeon had...
Lenders Rush To Cut Buy To Let Mortgage Rates
Buy to let mortgage lenders have started slashing mortgage rates in the wake of the Brexit vote. Several lenders – including one of the market leaders – have confirmed cheaper mortgages for landlords already and more cut price deals are expected to follow as...
What does Brexit mean for buy to let?
Brexit is likely to see a significant drop in house prices as sellers sit tight and wait to see how the property market reacts. Predictions about property prices and buy to let are hard to call as the economy is now about to enter uncharted waters. Not only has the...
Osborne’s Plan To Tax Buy To Let Investment Revealed
Chancellor George Osborne is landlord bashing again by clobbering landlords with a plan to levy more tax from them than other homeowners when they invest in buy to let. Osborne has taken every opportunity to wield the big stick to stop buy to let landlords expanding...
Good Neighbours Win Squatter’s Rights Battle
Neighbours warring over who owned a patch of grass verge outside their homes have run up legal bills of close to £250,000. The case was finally decided in the Court of Appeal after first going before a judge in 2014. The ruling serves as a warning to absent property...
Eviction Does Not Breach Tenant Human Rights, Court Decides
A landmark ruling from Britain’s top court stops tenants from trying to stop an eviction by claiming making them leave their home infringes their human rights. Judges at the Supreme Court ruled against an appeal from Fiona MacDonald, 45, who is fighting against an...
Is authorising repayment by the DPS “returning the deposit in full”?
In Yeomans v Newell, Canterbury court 25 May 2016, the question arose as to whether a deposit is deemed returned in full for allowing a section 21 notice to be served where the deposit was not protected within appropriate time-scales or prescribed information not...
Losing Buy To Let Tracker Legal Fight Costs Lender £27.5 Million
West Bromwich Building Society has lost a court case over varying mortgage interest rates for buy to let landlords whose loans tracked the Bank of England base rate. The lender offered buy to let mortgages on the basis that the interest rate would rise by a fixed...
Updated Right To Rent Code Of Practice
When conducting right to rent checks under the Immigration Act 2014, in order to achieve a statutory excuse, consideration must be given to the statutory code of practice under the Act. From 25 May 2016, the statutory code of practice has been updated. Landlords must...
The Price Is Right Hopes New Official House Value Index
Britain gets the first independent, official house price index this month. The inaugural UK House Price Index is due for publication on Tuesday, June 2016 and is a landmark for the property industry. So far, the market has been fragmented with house price reports from...
Buy To Let Renters Put Landlord Finances At Risk
Millions of tenants have no financial safety net to cover their rent costs should they lose their jobs or become too ill to work, according to a new report. Many believe the government will help out with welfare benefits – but do not realise spending cuts mean this is...
Coronavirus Guidance
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